


The Winner Does It All

by kazuwrites (catch_you_later)



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Day 1, Inspiration, M/M, Mentioned Other Figure Skaters, Quad Axel (Figure Skating), Quad Jumps (Figure Skating), Winter Olympics, Yuuriweek, different figure skating moves, do not copy to another site, theme: competitive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 09:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19885510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catch_you_later/pseuds/kazuwrites
Summary: Yuuri has grown up watching different skaters raise the bar higher and higher.Now it's his turn.





	The Winner Does It All

**Author's Note:**

> As a child I watched a lot of figure skating and with YOI I've rediscovered that love. This is my tribute to them both.
> 
> EDIT 7/25/2019: added some more details to the last part and end notes

As a child, Yuuri watches Stéphane Lambiel spin across the ice and decides: _I want to do that_.

The first attempts are miserable (it's not as easy to spin on skates as it is on pointe shoes) and more often than not he over-rotates, trips or becomes dizzy. For the first few times, Yuuko just laughs at the more comical attempts and smiles indulgently at him for the rest, but as the weeks go by and he shows no sign of giving up, she finally acquiesces and she and her mom teach him the proper technique.

Even after that, it takes years of practice to ignore the dizziness and adjust to the incredible speed of an on-ice spin.

(But he gets there. Eventually.)

* * *

_Viktor watches from the sidelines as Yuuri shifts smoothly from a layback spin into an impossibly tight, fast upright spin, bringing one hand to his chest and raising the other delicately towards the ceiling._

_He can almost feel the melancholy longing resonating in his chest. The raw, pure feeling of the gesture brings tears into his eyes._

_All of a sudden he is reminded of how it had felt to watch his own idol spin elegantly on the ice six years ago, see the power and the grace and feel the excitement of getting to compete against him soon._

_Watching Yuuri now, he remembers the exhilaration and inspiration and understands a bit better._

* * *

When Minako first introduces Yuuri to ice skating, she shows him how ballet can be combined with ice skating.

Yuuri had been a bit skeptical at first (and moving at great speeds on a pair of steel knives had seemed kind of scary), but then Minako had shown him a couple of old tapes of John Curry and Yuuri had practically begged her to teach him the 1976 Olympic routine.

Minako chuckles and says, "Later, kid."

(In the end she never ends up teaching it to him, because by the time he's old enough to attempt the whole routine, he is already enamored with a certain Russian skater and _his_ routines.

Instead, she teaches him how to incorporate his ballet training into his skating; how to make the most difficult moves look effortless; how to skate through exhaustion and pain; how to keep his flexibility and range of movement through growing pains and weight fluctuations.)

* * *

_It's 3 pm on a Saturday and a six-year-old Yuri Plisetsky has surprisingly not yet begged to be taken to the ice rink (even though it should be his rest day)._

_Nikolai Plisetsky frowns a bit in confusion as his grandson sits through their dinner unusually quietly, with none of the customary fidgeting and furtive glancing that precede a "Can we go to the rink now?"_

_But it seems that today Yuri has something else in mind._

_He waits until both of them have eaten and put away the dishes before he asks another question entirely._

_"Can I put on the TV?"_

_Nikolai studies him curiously._

_"Of course you can. I don't think I've ever said you can't watch it. Unless it's something boys your age are not supposed to watch. Is it something like that?"_

_He pins his grandson with a stern look._

_"NO! It's just a competition! Anyway, thanks for the food, I'll go now," Yuri speaks rapidly before rushing off to the living room._

_Nikolai watches him go in bewilderment before he hears the beginnings of the program Yuri has started to watch._

_"And welcome back to the Junior World Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia-"_

_At this, he chuckles a bit and grabs some vatrushkas and two glasses of milk before joining Yuri._

_His grandson is already so entranced by the figures moving on the screen that it takes a couple of minutes of calling his name before he accepts the glass and the pastry._

_Nikolai smiles fondly and sits back to enjoy his vatrushka._

_At one point, during the free skate of a dark-haired contestant (Nikolai catches a glimpse of a red-dotted white flag before the information bar on the bottom of the screen vanishes), Yuri's intense concentration rises so much that he's seemingly glaring at the screen._

_Curious at his grandson's antics, Nikolai moves his gaze to the screen as well._

_Now, Nikolai isn't an expert nor is he as ardent a fan as Yuri is, but he can still recognise talent when he sees it. The boy on the screen seems as if he's floating on the ice, weightless and elegant. Yes, he stumbles on jumps and wobbles a bit on the spins, but the musicality of his skating paired with an incomprehensible flexibility that makes his own aging bones twinge in sympathy speaks of great potential and skill._

_And it seems his grandson can see it too._

_"I've got to learn how to do that."_

_As it is, Nikolai isn't at all surprised when on Monday Yuri begs his coach to teach him the skater's routine._

_(Yuri is told that he needs to do more stretches before he can even try and perhaps even start dancing ballet (to which Yuri vehemently objects to)._

_Nine years later Yuri returns from Japan to sign up with Lilia Baranovskaya.)_

* * *

When Viktor suggests a pair skate as an exhibition program, Yuuri is instantly captivated.

The thing is, he has always loved pair skating. 

He loves how many different moves a pair can make, how implicit their trust be to make the kind of lifts and throws they do. He loves how dance-able their routines are, how many more stories a pair can tell compared to a single skater.

He also knows that he couldn't have gone into pair skating, not as he had been as a child. He would have worried thrice as much about disappointing his coach, his parents, his partner.

But somehow, with Viktor, it doesn't feel as daunting.

(Of course it's also not an official pair skate, just an exhibition, but still.)

They watch YouTube videos of Tatiana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov, Meryl Davies and Charlie White, Tessa Moir and Scott Virtue as well as Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron for inspiration and practice religiously.

They both fall a fair amount of times, yet with every successful lift, every perfectly in-tune spin and dance sequence, Yuuri feels like their connection is deepening into something profound, something unfathomable yet almost tangible. It shows in the way the read each other on-ice and outside of it, how they are more conscious of each other's presence than ever before.

It's both exhilarating and terrifying.

* * *

_In the articles discussing their pair skate they are compared to the current World Champions, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron._

_"To be compared to a pair who has skated together since they were children and who have such heart-felt, absolutely beautiful programs, is a tremendous honour. Their connection and amazing musicality and synchronization are literally the world's best. I've been a fan of them for quite some time so this means the world to me," Yuuri says when he's confronted about it._

* * *

The Four Continents have always been very daunting to Yuuri. There are fewer contestants (and no Viktor), which means that he has an increased pressure to win. 

However, there are also Uno-kun and Hanyu-kun who are younger than him but who have such immense potential that Yuuri fears they will soon surpass him. ( _If they haven't already_.) There're also rising stars like Nathan Chen and JJ Leroy. (And of course Phichit, Leo and Guang-Hong, but they are his friends).

All in all, he's a nervous wreck by the time he arrives at the stadium.

Luckily, Europeans were a month earlier, so he has Viktor with him.

"Calm down darling, you are beautiful to watch no matter how talented they are. Just skate for me," his fiancée murmurs to him before distracting him with wedding planning.

(Somehow he ends up snatching gold.)

* * *

Yuuri is 26 and participating in his first ever Olympics.

He has just relinquished a white-knuckled grip on the violet boards of the rink and stepped onto the ice. Viktor retired from active skating a year ago due to a recurring knee injury, but he continued training Yuuri, and is waiting on the rink-side, giddy with the anticipation of revealing their secret weapon for the audience.

Yuri is probably going to murder them both for it, but it will be _worth it_.

The program starts swiftly. He has a lot packed into these four minutes and he's going to make them _count_.

Eyes steeling with determination and absolute focus, Yuuri takes the first steps.

(In the sidelines, Viktor catches one glimpse of Yuuri's expression and his grin sharpens dangerously.)

(He's also takes off his scarf and moves it in front of his crotch just in case.)

* * *

_Phichit has been through a lot of competitions with Yuuri._

_He's seen him sad, anxious, nauseous, outright terrified._

_He's also seen him focused, determined and dedicated._

_He's never seen him as grimly determined as he is now._

_Yet as Yuuri starts his - dance (it's not a mere program, Phichit can immediately see that), his countenance changes. He's both focused and somehow more emotive than ever before. His edges are smoother, jumps higher and gestures_ _both strong and delicate in the exactly right places._

_It's breath-taking._

* * *

_The ghosts of other skaters are nowhere to be seen._

_This is just pure unadulterated, unfiltered Yuuri_ _and the members of the audience are absolutely still on their seats and holding their breaths as he dances across the ice._

_Gravity-defying Biellmann spins, cantilevers and hydroblading._

_Streamlined camel spins and light-as-air step sequences._

_Impossibly hard jump combinations (as in a_ _quad jump as th_ _e_ second _jump in a combination and a triple lutz to triple flip combo.), because_ why not.

_Yuuri's trademark triple axels, quad salchows and - of course -_ _his tribute to his beloved husband; the quad flip._

_The never-before-heard music fills the cold air with its delicate yet powerful chords, the melody perfectly harmonized with the graceful moves of the figure on the ice. It's almost as if the figure himself is_ creating _the music instead of just skating to it._

_And there, about 15 seconds before the end of the awe-inspiring performance, Yuuri picks up speed and soars into a record-breaking quad axel._

_(Somewhere near the Kiss and Cry a blonde in the Russian team jacket curses.)_

_As Yuuri's last combination spin comes to an end, his black-and-gold outfit glinting like a premonition of the future,_ _he doesn't notice the astounded silence from the audience (or the roaring applause that follows)._

_Instead he_ _sees his husband's face streaked with proud tears and his mouth stretched into th_ _e widest hear-shaped smile he has ever seen._

_Instead his shaking legs take him to Viktor and he is enveloped by the best prize of them all; his husband's love._

**Author's Note:**

> These two videos were also a main inspiration for this fic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U1-2vFTigM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi0SWziSEQs&t=1s
> 
> I've also listed some of important figure skaters (like John Curry who was known for bringing ballet and modern dance influences into figure skating) as well as well as my personal favourites. I especially recommend watching some of Yuzuru's, Yuna's and the Papadakis-Cizeron duo's performances, if you haven't already. They are absolutely breath-taking.
> 
> P.S. If you want to know which Olympics I'm talking about, I dropped a hint with the board colours... ;)


End file.
